"Temptation" is a single by British band

Heaven 17 Heaven 17 are an English new wave and synth-pop band that formed in Sheffield in 1980. The band were a trio for most of their career, composed of Martyn Ware (keyboards) and Ian Craig Marsh (keyboards) (both previously of the Human League), an ...

, originally released in April 1983, peaking at number two on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. This was the second single to be taken from their second album, '' The Luxury Gap'', after "

Let Me Go Let or LET may refer to: Sports * Let serve, when the served object in certain racket sports hits the net and lands in the correct service court, such as; ** Let (badminton) ** Let (pickleball) ** Let (tennis) * Ladies European Tour, the ladi ...

" in November 1982. "Temptation" was certified silver by the BPI in May 1983, for sales exceeding 250,000 copies.

Composition and recording

Martyn Ware Martyn Ware (born 19 May 1956) is an English musician, composer, arranger, record producer, and music programmer. As a founding member of both the Human League and Heaven 17, Ware was partly responsible for hit songs such as "Being Boiled" and " ...

explained the subject matter of the song as "I woke up one morning and thought I've got to write a song about sex, I've never written a song about sex. So the song is about rising sexual tension; it has chords that keep going up like an . C.Escher staircase and in the end there's this big release."

Glenn Gregory Glenn Peter Gregory (born 16 May 1958) is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as co-founder and lead singer of the new wave and synthpop b ...

later recalled that he laughed "when Martyn walked in and said he had this great idea for a song based on the Lord’s Prayer with a never-ending chord structure" (the line "lead us not into temptation" is taken from

the Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

Carol Kenyon Carol Kenyon (sometimes spelt Karol; born 1959) is a British singer. She is best known for her vocals on the Heaven 17 hit song "Temptation", which reached number two in the UK Singles Chart in 1983. When the song was re-released as a remix by ...

provided guest vocals on the recording and continued to work with the band on the ''

Pleasure One ''Pleasure One'' is the fourth studio album by the English new wave music, new wave and synth-pop band Heaven 17, released on 17 November 1986 by Virgin Records. It was the band's last studio album chart entry within the UK Top 100. Background ...

'' and '' Teddy Bear, Duke & Psycho'' albums. The song featured a 60-piece orchestra, arranged and conducted by John Wesley Barker, which was also featured on the single " Come Live with Me" and a third track on the parent album. In a 2016 interview Ware said that he told Barker that he wanted the arrangement to be "sweeping and expressionistic", giving the theme from ''

The Big Country ''The Big Country'' is a 1958 American epic Western film directed by William Wyler, starring Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston, and Burl Ives. The supporting cast features Charles Bickford and Chuck Connors. Filmed i ...

'' as an example of the kind of sound required.

Performance

Heaven 17 performed this song on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

1000th edition in 1983.

Remix and re-recording

In 1992, the song was remixed by

Brothers in Rhythm Brothers in Rhythm are a British electronic music group comprising Dave Seaman, Steve Anderson and Alan Bremner. The group was originally a duo comprising Seaman and Anderson, with Bremner joining later in 1999. They have remixed and/or produc ...

and released on 9 November 1992. This version charted at No. 4 on the

, and reached No. 1 in the

UK Dance Chart The UK Dance Singles Chart and the UK Dance Albums Chart are music charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company from sales of songs in the dance music genre (e.g. house, trance, drum and bass, garage, synthpop) in record ...

. The 1992 remix of "Temptation" was certified silver by the

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with th ...

(BPI) in January 1993 for sales exceeding 200,000 copies. In 2008, the song was re-recorded for Heaven 17's album ''

Naked as Advertised ''Naked as Advertised'' is the eighth studio album by the English synthpop band Heaven 17. It was originally released in 2008, on the label Just Music, three years after their previous album, '' Before After''. The album contained re-workings of t ...

'' with

Billie Godfrey Billie Godfrey is an English singer. Background Based in London and Brighton, Godfrey has been a vocalist for many artists and in her own right. She started her career as a radio DJ, playing the kind of music she would later go on to record. ...

as guest vocalist. On 19 October 2010, Heaven 17 performed the song on '' Later... with Jools Holland'' on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

in the United Kingdom.

Music video

The music video for "Temptation" was directed by

Steve Barron Steven Barron (born 4 May 1956) is an Irish-British filmmaker. He is best known for directing the music videos for the songs "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson, "Summer of '69" and " Run to You" by Bryan Adams, " Money for Nothing" by Dire Stra ...

. It shows the band dressed in black in drab surroundings in a style of

German Expressionism German Expressionism () consisted of several related creative movements in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. These developments were part of a larger Expressionist movement in north and central ...

, and has segments of what looks like an abstract office interview between vocalist Glenn Gregory and actor Gillian de Terville. Kenyon does not appear in the video because of a disagreement over appearance money.

Charts

Original version

Brothers in Rhythm remix

Cover versions

At the

NME Awards The ''NME'' Awards is an annual music awards show in the United Kingdom, founded by the music magazine ''NME'' (''New Musical Express''). The first awards show was held in 1953 as the ''NME'' Poll Winners Concerts, shortly after the founding of ...

2007,

Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician and radio presenter. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp, he became a figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Following P ...

and

Beth Ditto Mary Beth Patterson (born February 19, 1981), known by her stage name Beth Ditto, is an American singer and songwriter most notable for her work with the indie rock band Gossip. Her voice has been compared to Etta James, Janis Joplin and Tin ...

performed "Temptation", and released it as a charity single.

Cradle of Filth Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved originally from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic metal and other metal genres. Their ly ...

covered the song in 2006 on their album ''

Thornography ''Thornography'' is the seventh studio album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. It was released on 17 October 2006, by record label Roadrunner. It was produced by former Anthrax guitarist Rob Caggiano, engineered by Dan Turner and m ...

''. Heaven 17 collaborated on a new performance of the song with

La Roux La Roux ( ) is an English synthpop act formed in 2008 by singer Elly Jackson and record producer Ben Langmaid. The act's debut album ''La Roux'' (2009) was a critical and commercial success, winning a Grammy Award and producing hit singles suc ...

Maida Vale Studios Maida Vale Studios is a complex of seven BBC sound studios, of which five are in regular use, in Delaware Road, Maida Vale, west London. It has been used to record thousands of classical music, popular music and drama sessions for BBC Radio 1, ...

on 26 January 2010 for BBC 6 Music. At Glastonbury on 25 June 2010, Glenn Gregory was invited on stage to perform the version again with La Roux during their set.

References in popular culture

"Temptation" was used in the 1996 film ''

Trainspotting Trainspotting may refer to: * Trainspotting (hobby), an amateur interest in railways/railroads * ''Trainspotting'' (novel), a 1993 novel by Irvine Welsh ** ''Trainspotting'' (film), a 1996 film based on the novel *** ''Trainspotting'' (soundtr ...

'' and appears on the second volume of the official soundtrack. It was also used in the 2010

Plusnet Plusnet plc is a British triple play internet service provider (ISP); providing broadband, landline and mobile services. The company was founded in 1997 in Sheffield, England, and became a public limited company (plc) in July 2004 when it was f ...

advert, where the band were featured in a tongue-in-cheek appearance performing the song.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Temptation (Heaven 17 Song) 1983 singles 1992 singles 2006 singles 2008 singles Charity singles Cradle of Filth songs Heaven 17 songs Jarvis Cocker songs Live singles Music videos directed by Steve Barron Music Week number-one dance singles Songs written by Glenn Gregory Songs written by Ian Craig Marsh Songs written by Martyn Ware 1983 songs Virgin Records singles